


Language and Resistance

by sparklight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Academia, In-Universe Academia, Slavery, Tatooine Slave Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 06:02:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7156505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Exactly what it sounds like; written on a whim, it's supposed to be an in-universe piece of academia about slavery on Tatooine, from a cultural and linguistic standpoint. I, however, have no academic education or higher education knowledge about something like this, so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Topic Treatment Touching Briefly On Slavery and Language On Tatooine

The scope of this treatment will be brief, owing in particular to the scarcity of sources, but it deserves some attention nonetheless. Tatooine, in the Arkanis sector of the Outer Rim Territories, have always existed with a liminal connection to the greater galaxy and the Republic - and, now, the Empire - as a whole. It's a barren, arid world, where barely half of the surface is suitable for habitation, and that only by making use of moisture vaporators or imported water.

Yet, it does not only have two native species, but have been the object of several waves of colonisation, Human as well as other species. While there has been some discussion regarding how early the first settlers came to Tatooine (see _Hyperspace Travel and the Outer Rim Colonisations_ , 9th edition - Amat Zee, and _The Route to the Stars_ \- Harun Starbright [1]), that there were non-native settlements around 3900 years ago will have to be seen as a given, with the Czerka Corporation having logged mining projects spanning decades at a time on the planet for a period lasting at least three hundred years (see _The History of Czerka Corporation, Abridged_ \- Caleb Gammon).  
The Republic withdrew from Tatooine at several points in history, probably making way for leaving the planet the home to the criminal elements of society that it mostly is today, and have been for at least 800-900 years [2], when the Hutt Cartel claimed Tatooine for their own. The earliest instance of slavery on Tatooine can be attested from the same era[3], as well as Basic and Huttese being introduced as primary languages.

Basic not being Tatooine's primary language prior to this point is, of course, a point of contention (see _The History of Language in the Outer Rim_ , 4th edition - Amat Zee, and _Hutt Influence in the Outer Rim_ \- Tollan San Vikku), but the fragmentary presence of Old Settler Tatooinian, the oldest evidence of which comes as early as 2500 years ago [4], does deserve some consideration. Particularly as Basic only made a strong appearance shortly before the Hutt Cartel made its entrance on Tatooine, during the last instance of interest the Republic showed in Tatooine ( _Hyperspace Travel and the Outer Rim Colonisations_ ). 

San Vikku sets forth an argument that, if Old Settler Tatooinian didn't have a strong basis among the Tatooine population, the Hutts would not have made the effort to so thoroughly wipe it out as they did, forcing anyone under their control to use languages more known to them (Basic, Huttese, Rodese, Twi'leki). The apparent strength of this suggestion lies in the fact that of recorded examples, all of them seem to have to do with warning for, resistance by, or comfort to oppressed individuals.  
While out of the seven primary sources[5] available, and only two of those being complete (only one of which existing as an audio recording) and the other five are fragmentary, as the language itself exists only in fragments ( _The History of Language in the Outer Rim_ , _Hutt Influence in the Outer Rim_ , _The Hutt Cartel and Planets Outside Hutt Space_ \- Zur'ma Annat), it doesn't seem too bold to consider the sources as representative of how the language is used among those on Tatooine who still speak what there is to be spoken of it.

The most interesting parts of these primary sources come in the form of a repeated question the singer makes of their 'love'[6], plaintive and offering no real solution or comfort, merely, perhaps, endurance, and, in the other complete source example, an implicit resistance that is threaded through the song, with the explicit resistance and challenge of the slave master only expressed in the only recorded instance of Old Settler Tatooinian clapping-signs[7].

It seems noteworthy that one of the two complete primary sources is a clear challenge to authority, with or without the addition of the clapping-signs being just that, or simply a way to hold the beat. The singer in this case clearly brings up the rock they have found, and that they will use it to 'rise against', immediately followed by the ending line saying the singer will leave for the desert. This, then, being a reference not just to escaping slavery by running into the wilds where the master has no reach or authority, but the possibility of the singer sacrificing their life in the same act; three of the five fragmentary primary sources all refer to the desert explicitly as an escape as well as death. Death in the context of a slave _choosing it_ being as much resistance of the slave master as a successful escape or any number of more subtle shows of resistance, is, of course, well-documented (see, for example, _The Social Construction of Galactic Slavery_ , 2nd edition - Tollan San Vikku, _Slavery in the Outer Rim_ \- Harun Starbright), and does not require much argument.

That such resistance is, perhaps somewhat boldly stated, so obvious even from such a scarce amount of sources, most of which are fragmentary, seems to speak to how Old Settler Tatooinian has been used throughout Tatooine's history and, probably, today still. There seems to be a reasonable argument in contesting that even such a fragmentary language is an important part of a Tatooinian slave's repertoire of resistance and survival tactics.

-by Breha Onos Arcíel, Department of Linguistics, University of Aldera.  
Published posthumously in the _Galactic Languages and Linguistics Quarterly_ , a year after the destruction of Alderaan. 

Notes:  
[1] Being that Mister Starbright is not Human, his work is, of course, of lesser weight, but it seems justified to include such a well-researched and informative treatise on stellar migration alongside such an established author as Amat Zee.  
[2] Finding accurate dates for when Gardulla Besadii the Elder claimed Tatooine as a base of operations has been prohibitively difficult for a brief topic treatment such as this, so this relies merely on security reports of seized shipments traced back to Tatooine, which only confirms the earliest mention of her being active on planet, not when she first seized it. Additionally, however, there is proof of Jabba Desilijic Tiure claiming Tatooine as a base 516 years ago, from a complaint filed by a religious order – an issue which was left unresolved.  
[3] While it is not too bold a statement to hazard that slavery existed on Tatooine before the Hutt Cartel settled there, systemic slavery can with no uncertainty be proven from this point forward, both from several accounts of gifts given to Gardulla the Elder and seized shipments.  
[4] See primary sources supplement.  
[5] See primary sources supplement.  
[6] The translation has two variations, both contesting 'love' referring to a lover, a family member, or someone deeply connected to the singer, definition unknown. The single trip I could make to Tatooine and the solitary interview to question about the primary sources brought the opinion that the word is flexible and definition of the relation of the subject to the singer relies on accompanying clapping. Subject refused to further clarify.  
[7] See _The History of Language in the Outer Rim_ , _The Hutt Cartel and the Planets Outside Hutt Space_ , and _Hutt Influence in the Outer Rim_ ; all mention the possibility of a non-verbal component of Old Settler Tatooinian, easier to both hide from anyone who is not taught the language and to use it in the presence of the same. The song (tentatively titled 'Rise Against') has the clapping clearly translated in the Basic translation, with the archivist who created the recording noting that the singer briefly confirmed it was 'a warning and a challenge', but not exactly what it otherwise meant, so the translation takes the singer's description somewhat creatively to express the intended meaning.


	2. Primary Sources Supplement

O! My Master  
There's something I wish to say  
O! My Master! (Watch your back)  
I got lost in the desert the other day  
O! My Master!  
She was cruel and unforgiving, but I heard her say  
O! My Master! (Watch your back)  
I found a rock the other day  
O! My Master!  
I brought it with me to say  
O! My Master! (Watch your back)  
That with it I will rise against  
O! My Master!  
I'll leave for the desert today

_-Tatooine, ca. 872 years old, from the Outer Rim Social History Archives, Alderaan_  
Translation in Basic of Item V-AUF96/YB, audio recording. One of the few complete examples of Old Settler Tatooinian, with the only recorded example of clapping-signs (in the translation these are marked by the words within parenthesis). The archivist responsible for the translation and the recording was inspired by the fragmentary recording of this song stored at the Galactic Social History Museum on Coruscant. Anonymous singer.

[Here] dawn does not bring succor sweet, only promise of the day's burning heat  
What then, my love, what then?  
And so rises noon, bright and hard, the memories of cool night far  
oh, if only the shadows would fall  
But what then, my love, what then?  
When evening burnishes the sky so bold, thoughts and bodies may turn to rest untold  
but out upon the dunes they creep  
What then, my love, what then?  
So night has cooled the sands for sleep, even quenching the unending heat  
but 'ware the shadows, in the canyons deep, they are too cold to bring shelter  
to tired heads and feet  
What then, my love, what then?

_-Tatooine, ca. 150 years old, from the Outer Rim Social History Archives, Alderaan_  
Translation in Basic of Item TY-78BIH/8G, written transcript of a song in Old Settler Tatooinian.

... Sister swallows the suns, to give us shadows to travel by, and the moons know the way ... She may guide us, but don't follow Sister too deep into the sands.

_-Tatooine, ca. 2500 years old, from the Galactic Social History Museum, Coruscant, and an additional transcription ca. 562 years old, from the Outer Rim Social History Archives, Alderaan_  
Translation in Basic of Item C-BYF7114/I, written transcript fragment of, presumably, a folk tale in Old Settler Tatooinian.

My Master is wise  
But my collar is heavy  
My Master knows well  
But my back is on fire

_-Tatooine, ca. 116 years old, from the Outer Rim Social History Archives, Alderaan_  
Translation in Basic and Twi'leki of Item TYU-094NF/LQ, written transcript fragment of a song in Old Settler Tatooinian - see Item HA-0945/LI for the possible Twi'leki variation, which is longer.

The desert knows where I can go  
The desert spreads her veils  
The desert hides me when I fall

_-Tatooine, ca. 1100 years old, from the Galactic Social History Museum, Coruscant_  
Translation in Basic of Item JY-649VU/IK, written transcript fragment of a song in Old Settler Tatooinian.

Follow the Dewbacks for water, follow the moons for safety, but only if you don't go too deep. Leave in the morning so the sand might not eat you, but if she comes, rather the desert than the teeth of the Sarlacc.

_-Tatooine, ca. 345 years old._  
Translation in Basic of Item BHU-LOR80/PU, written transcript of, presumably coded advice for how to navigate the desert. It's uncertain whether this is a fragmentary transcript or not, but it has been logged as such.

I would cry  
but I have no tears  
they came for my daughter  
then they took my son  
three times have I given my heart  
uncounted was my flesh taken

The suns are unforgiving  
the desert knows no fears  
and I would cry  
but I have no tears

_-Tatooine, ca. 890 years old, from the Outer Rim Social History Archives, Alderaan_  
Translation in Basic and Huttese of Item VZ-OL943/GA, written transcript fragment of a song in Old Settler Tatooinian. This recording is fragmented due to damaged equipment, so the recording may have been complete; it has been impossible to restore the original. 


End file.
